Above Death Itself - A Story Of Courage
by MiracleBreaker
Summary: Ash is a hero. We all know him as one, a hero with courage, a hero with passion, and a hero who sucks at winning Pokemon Leagues. However, being such a person comes with more sacrifice than one would think. Death follows him, and he knows it. (A random snippet of anime moments with Ash displaying his courage in death, or near death) Rated T for Death, Death and More Death Death.
1. Chapter 1: A Hero's Beginning

**This story is not in chronological order. It will be random tidbits from random episodes, but with enough content so that it qualifies as a fanfiction. Essentially, this is the prologue, and also chapter 1.**

* * *

Time: Beginning of the Kanto Journey

* * *

Running. That was all the Ash Ketchum could do. A severely injured Pikachu in hand, a rainstorm coming in from above, and a flock of Spearow tailing him with intent to kill. This was the first day of his Pokemon journey and from what he could tell, was most likely his last. But, he would spend this one day defending his first Pokemon. A Pikachu, who wouldn't listen to a word he said. Sprinting across the forest path, he desperately looked for a way to escape the rain of sharp beaks from behind him.

That's when he saw it.

A river.

Spearow on his tail and the clouds were becoming darker.

He had no choice but to jump in and pray that they would be fine.

The river was fast, full of harsh and deadly Water Pokemon, and more importantly, it was the Pallet Town's most infamous river, due to its hard rocky floor, and shallow areas. Ash jumped into the water, Pikachu in hand, to desperately escape the Spearow flock. Then, it hit him. Literally.

The rock bottom floor of the river immediately knocked him out. Pikachu was still awake, seeing the boy he saw as a goofy beginner trainer with no idea what he was doing, now on his deathbed, trying to save him from a flock of Spearow, technically it had pissed off. There was nothing either of them could do now, the strong current was pushing them too fast, and Ash was completely unconscious. His body wasn't submerged, so at least he and Pikachu were not drowning, but their ability to escape was slipping away very quickly.

Over on the land, a red-headed girl was busy fishing in the river. She knew the rain, brought out some great water type Pokemon in the river waters. Her goal was to become a Water-type Pokemon expert. Suddenly, her rod began to tighten. Eagerly, she expertly reeled it in, and a Gyarados popped out. The one Water-type she couldn't handle. She quickly grabbed her rod, and bag before a Hyper beam was shot at her. Her bike on the other hand… was not in a great shape. The Gyarados, seeing that he made his point, swam back into the water. The girl sighed in relief.

She commented, "Of course it had to be a Gyarados. Guess I have to find a new fishing spot."

She began to walk back into the forest when she slipped, and with a swoosh, fell straight into the river. As an expert swimmer, she knew how to avoid the rocks in the water, but the current was too strong, the best she could do was avoid rocks, and keep her head out of the water.

This was not a good day for her.

Meanwhile, the boy and his Pikachu were still being washed away by the current, the Pikachu was losing energy very fast, and the boy was no longer unconscious, but barely awake, and unable to do anything. It wasn't long until the water began to flow faster. Pikachu knew this was never a good sign, and he was correct. They were headed for a waterfall. Pikachu was desperately holding onto his human lifeboat and closed his eyes, waiting for the impending doom.

Then, he felt himself being thrown into the air. He opened his eyes, to see that he got flung into the air, straight for land. When he landed, he turned around to see the edge of the waterfall and no Ash.

"Pika Pi! Pika!" he cried.

No response.

It thought for a moment, and a tear came down his eyes as he realized what had happened.

Ash had spent the last of his energy to throw Pikachu to safety, leaving himself to fall off the waterfall.

More tears followed, and Pikachu cried to the heavens.

"PIKA PI!"

…

Suddenly, clouds parted and a light shone from above. It was around the area at the bottom of the waterfall. Pikachu didn't know what it was but decided to follow it. Something about that light was soothing. It felt comforting, something it desperately needed. Emotions ran through its head, it used to hate humans, saw them as Pokemon abusers, but on this day, one boy changed his opinion for the better. The boy was young, and stupid, but also brave and protective. Pikachu began to run down the hills, across stones, across paths. It ran down through the forest canopy, to the area around the bottom of the waterfall.

There on the bank of the shore, the golden light pointed towards one particular area. Laying on the gravel shore was Ash. He was covered in scrapes, his legs weren't in the correct direction, he had 3 deep gashes in his chest. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't breathing. Pikachu ran up to the body and stared. That could have been him.

The light shone brighter, and the clouds began to fade, Pikachu stared at Ash and then to the sky, and what he saw shocked him. A large phoenix-like bird was gliding down towards them. Its feathers shone gold, as its body split the clouds. A rainbow glowed behind it, as it landed right in front of him.

The bird stared at the boy, and then at the Pokemon. In a voice of authority, he asked.

"What is this boy to you, Pikachu?"

Pikachu pondered for a moment, and replied "A friend… no, a partner."

The Phoenix slowly smiled, pleased with the answer. He slowly began to shine and he flew upwards towards the clouds, releasing light and sparkles as he flew higher and higher. The sparkles landed on Ash's body, and it began to shine as well.

Pikachu stood back and watched in awe, as all of Ash's wounds began to heal. Then a flash of light burst across the area, forcing Pikachu to close his eyes. When he opened them again, the light had disappeared. He looked at Ash, and with relief, he saw his chest moving, he was breathing. Slowly, Ash stirred and woke up. The first things his eyes saw was a small golden speck in the sky, which promptly left his vision range. Suddenly, Pikachu jumped onto him, glomping him and crying with happiness.

Ash snapped out of his drowsiness and said, "Pikachu…"

Pikachu squeaked in reply, "Ash, I..I… can't believe you're alive! Thank god! I can't believe I hated you before, and now this.. And I- "

Ash suddenly realized, "Wait a second, I can understand you Pikachu."

Pikachu stopped and replied, " Huh? Um… Your an idiot."

"Hey! That's not very nice."

Pikachu giggled a bit and replied, "Sorry, just checking."

Ash, satisfied with Pikachu's reply promptly stated, "Well, whatever just happened, from now on, we're a team right Pikachu?"

Pikachu squeaked, "Partners, let's be together forever."

They hugged for a bit, then with Pikachu on his shoulder, Ash stood up, with a bit of trouble, grabbed his bag, and prepared to leave, still a bit confused about what had happened after he fell off the waterfall, but knew that with Pikachu with him, he could conquer everything and become a Pokemon Master.

Just before he began to leave, he noticed a small rainbow-colored feather on the ground, right where he was just lying. He picked it up, eyeing its unusual colors and shape. "Huh, wonder where this came from." He decided to carefully place it in his bag as a keepsake of his first day and promptly left the river area to get back onto his journey. Up above the clouds, Ho-oh spoke, "When people and Pokemon join together as one, I will return. This is just the first step towards that path."

Meanwhile, Ash had been walking across the path to Viridian city for a while, talking to Pikachu, something he thought was impossible until now, but not something he would complain about, and occasionally battling wild Pokemon. They talked about the incident sparsely, as it left bad memories in both of their minds. It was almost nightfall, and Ash and his Pikachu went to set up camp by the river, despite the incident, the river was still a good place to camp, so long as you weren't in the river. As they were scouting the landscape, they came across a nice flat area.

But Ash noticed something about this particular area, there was an unconscious, red-headed girl lying by the shore, her body was full of cuts and bruises but she was still breathing.

Ash and Pikachu looked at each other and went to go help her out.

* * *

 **So yeah, that's a modified version of Ash's first day, and he has already died. Yay! Due to this I also decided Misty would also face a similar situation, so she would have a much better reason to join Ash on his journey. Anyways, onto the next one.**


	2. Chapter 2: A Hero's Call P1

(Aboard the St. Anne)

* * *

Ash, Misty and Brock stood still, admiring the view of the ocean. The St. Anne was a marvel and a beautiful boat, which they enjoyed sailing on. They were pretty lucky to get some tickets, or so they thought, it was quite suspicious that some random people would just give them tickets, but Misty insisted on going, so the others just tagged along.

While exploring the various attractions on the ocean liner, Ash saw a sizable crowd of people in the main ballroom, shouting and screaming. The group went over to see what the commotion was about. Turns out two trainers were battling, a rich looking man in a suit, against a young kid with some flashy shorts.

"Starmie **Tackle** attack!"

"Raticate, use **Hyper Fang**."

The two trainers were battling each other fiercely, but the rich-looking man with the Raticate seemed to be winning. Suddenly, the gem on the Starmie cracked and it fainted immediately. The boy returned his defeated Pokemon, and left vowing to train harder. The crowd continued to comment about how the man was undefeated and how strong his Raticate was. The man then asked the crowd. "Anyone else want to battle with my Raticate?"

Misty turned to speak to Ash, "That trainer looks pretty strong and experienced, I wouldn't recommend battling him."

She did a double take as to her surprise, Ash was no longer beside her, instead he was already in front of the man, challenging him to a battle.

Misty sighed, "Why am I not surprised." She quickly noticed Brock was also no longer beside her, and was staring at some girls in fancy dresses. With her trusty mallet in hand, she stomped over to where Brock was standing.

Meanwhile, Ash sent out his Butterfree to battle the Raticate. The exchanged tackles a few times, with Butterfree taking most of the damage. Then, Butterfree began to use Stun Spore, and paralyzed the Raticate, which promptly made the man forfeit.

Brock and Misty were a bit surprised when they came back, but also happy for Ash's win. Ash was a pretty gifted beginner trainer, and he could also speak to his Pokemon.

The man promptly praised Ash for his Butterfree and offered to trade, in which Ash decided to decline, telling the man that the Butterfree was actually his first caught Pokemon. The man understood and left, towards the boats Pokemon center to heal his Raticate.

Suddenly, the lights went out.

"Prepare for trouble,"

"And make it double,"

"To protect the world from devastation,"

"To unite all people within our nation,"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love,"

"To extend our reach to the stars above,"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth dats right!"

Suddenly, the lights came back on, and many men and women dressed in a black uniform with a large red R in the front appeared throughout the room. People began to scream as the rocket grunts began to attack people, stealing their Pokeballs. Many of them also had backpacks with vacuums, sucking up loose Pokeballs, and occasionally some jewelry. Jessie, James and Meowth also jumped off the dramatic platform that they were on and went to mug some trainers, only for one of James's Pokeballs to come loose, making him chase after it, along with Jessie and Meowth once they realized it was the Magikarp that James was scammed with rolling away.

Everything became a panicked blur as grunts coordinated attacks and stole Pokemon, as well as damaging the tables and other furniture around. Having seen enough, Ash suddenly yelled, "Those are your friends being taken away, are you going to just let them take your Pokemon? Your trainers! Fight back!".

After that was said, things became more and more chaotic, Pokemon were sent out and attacks flew everywhere, Rocket grunts battled hard against trainers in an all out war, causing even more damage to the surrounding environment. Ash sent out his Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur who joined groups with other starter Pokemon to launch group attacks at the Rocket grunts. Pikachu also joined in with other Pikachu to shock a large portion of grunts, making their vacuums explode, releasing a bunch of Pokeballs, while a load of flying type Pokemon, including Ash's Pidgeotto and Butterfree blew the grunts into the sky.

After about a half an hour of intense chaos, most of the Rocket's were blasted off, and most of the Pokemon that were stolen, had been returned to trainers. However, this came at a price, the ship was badly damaged, and many of the attacks had hit the boat from the inside out, damaging the floors, walls and more importantly the computerized systems of the boat. Slowly the boat began to rock, further and further, and the captain promptly ordered an evacuation.

Meanwhile, the Team Rocket trio was still aboard, chasing a certain golden Pokeball that was rolling down some stairs, unaware of the incoming danger.

Brock, Misty and Ash, ran towards the lifeboats, but then, Ash heard a cry of help and he turned around and ran towards the cries. Misty and Brock followed suit.

The cries came from a floor beneath them, as metal was wedged into a doorway, and a bunch of kids were trapped inside a room. Ash rashly ran towards them, but not before the boat suddenly, lurched forwards, knocking everyone still on board unconscious.

Thankfully, many lifeboats were already sailing away from the ship, with a large population of people aboard. But for anyone on board, any hope for them was extinguished as the ship capsized and sank.

…

"Ash!"

…

"Wake up"

..?

"Just do it Pikachu we don't have time."

.!?

"CHUUU!"

!

Pikachu launched a thunderbolt at the unconscious Ash, immediately waking him up.

Startled, he asked "Huh, uh where are we?"

Misty responded, "Well Ash Ketchum, because of YOU, we are in what's left of the St. Anne."

Brock added, "And what's left, is underwater."

Ash slowly took in the information and slowly stood up, still a bit dizzy. "Well, then let's find a way off of the ship. Pikachu, can you go and find any survivors?"

Pikachu mock saluted and ran off. Misty and Brock just stared at Ash. Ash stared back in confusion. "Why are you staring?"

Brock regained composure, "Uh, just thought you would panic more, considering we're probably under 20000 feet of water, and losing air quickly in a life or death situation." Brock was legitimately impressed by the boys calmness despite the situation.

Misty on the other hand, just thought he was insane. "It's almost as if-"

Her statement was interrupted as Pikachu ran in yelling at Ash, "The kids are still stuck in the room! And it's leaking!"

Ash, not wanting to tell his friends about his ability to talk to Pokemon, responded with, "I think we should follow Pikachu, it might be something serious!"

Pikachu ran down the corridor, Ash and the gang following closely behind, until they began to hear screams for help. Every looked in horror as they saw a blocked up room, with rubble in front of it, with water leaking through.

Brock and Misty immediately sprung into action, sending out Geodude and Staryu to remove the rubble.

Ash yelled, "Swim in this direction!" Then, movement was heard, heading towards them, just as Geodude removed a chair, water sprayed out and Brock immediately returned the Rock-type. Then, a few kids came out of the heavy water spout, clearly traumatized.

Ash and Misty began to console the kids, until one said something that made their hearts stop. "Jack can't swim!"

Before anyone else could react, Misty jumped into the spouting water and entered the submerged room, a few seconds later, she came out with an unconscious kid in her arms.

Misty quickly yelled, "Brock, do you know CPR?"

Brock quickly said, "Yeah, set him down here. We can't carry him back onto the surface unconscious.

As Brock began compressing the kids chest, Ash and Misty were busy with the other kids, who were either complaining profusely or crying. Both appropriate reactions to their current situation.

Ash began counting the kids and grimaced, "Misty, how do we get these kids off the ship? I have Squirtle, and you have Goldeen, Staryu and Starmie, but that's it. We don't have enough Water Pokemon to ferry them off the ship."

Misty grimaced when she heard Ash, "Yeah, that's a problem. I don't think we can afford to take 2 trips. In order to get off the boat, we need to blow a hole in the ship, which would flood it faster… In addition, if there is no land above us, the people on the first trip have to tread ocean water, and I don't anyone has the energy for that."

Their conversation was interrupted by a coughing sound. The kids heard this and ran up to their friend. Jack began spitting out water and coughing a lot. He slowly woke up and coughed some more.

Brock saw this and began the other part of his first aid training, getting information and assessing the victim. As this was happening, Ash and Misty began to brainstorm.

They needed a plan. A plan to get out of the boat. And they were running out of time.

* * *

 **Miracle: WERE BACK! YAY!**

 **?: Took you long enough.**

 **Miracle: Shut. It. :(**

 **?: .u.**

 **Miracle: Anyways, I decided to split this part in two, because of time constraints. I'm getting busier and probably will make this story chapters shorter than my main story: The Miracle that is Ash Ketchum. But, I will attempt to upload part 2 soon.**


End file.
